What is a Souls-Like?

[@PaoloMunoz]

If a games journalist can’t play it, it’s a “Souls-like.”

[@arathoras12]

So basically 99% of games in general.

[@AlexoGable]

@Janne Paananen HAaaaAAAaaaa that still has me fuckin' laughin' mate... Honestly, I remember when Demon Souls first came out, and I'm a super casual gamer, I honestly just don't have the fucking time or care for most video games unless there pretty fucking brilliant. The Souls Series, was the first Games, I honestly remember finding addicting, and it brought back this "nostalgia" of how unforgiving, and vague, a lot of Nintendo Entertainment System, Games were... Instantly FELL in love with Demon/Dark Souls / BB.... I mean, I think a lot of people from the Nintendo Generation, might actually FIND the SOULS SERIES EASIER, then some of the Whacky NES games, that were out when we were Children... I seriously remember playing the fuck out of "Iron Sword II: Wizards and Warriors" The end Boss on that game, is sooooo unforgiving, it makes the Souls Series look like cake! (Well maybe thats just my memory from when I was a kid, honestly until writing this comment, I never thought to go snag an emulator, and give it another go... and Honestly, went through almost 10 NES controllers as a kid! and 3 Consoles! Anyone Remember those HUGE Controllers with the Joysticks?) I'm way off topic rambling anyways, your comment made me laugh, thank you. Cheers

[@dylanblue9201]

That's alotta souls-like games then.

[@yuvanraj2271]

Souls like SpongeBob.

[@thecriticalknight8646]

skyrim is souls-like fallout is souls-like ReAl LiFe Is SoUls-LiKe

[@maxwaring2000]

The Critical Knight I wish real life was soul like

[@Kinoksis]

I can respawn in real life? brb gonna test it out

[@triggeredbeetle5370]

@@croosh4554 yo that man dead

[@chrisgreely5958]

Cuphead is the CSGO of Dark Souls clones.

[@1010-q8f]

tf does that even mean

[@SonoftheFortunate]

@@1010-q8f It has been three years my friend.

[@anveshkhode3794]

@@1010-q8f idk

[@harvey6397]

nice pfp

[@BurgerGuy-e3n]

tf does that even mean

[@KAPTAINmORGANnWo4eva]

DOOM clones and GTA clones eventually found a genre/subgenre name to reflect that their games eventually moved out of the innovator's shadow. In a few years it will happen for Souls-likes as well.

[@thegoose8663]

Action Rpg

[@niemand7811]

Doom clones are the same genre as is Doom - first person shooter. Oh boy,that was hard to figure out, wasn't it? And anyone too lame to understand that Dark Souls is a RPG and thus every "soulslike" has to be a RPG as well, well, you suck!

[@KAPTAINmORGANnWo4eva]

@@niemand7811 It's cool that you're so belligerent about something unrelated to the comment you're replying to, _and_ what you're actually arguing for is probably the dumbest non solution to the problem you're too illiterate to see I wasn't talking about to begin with.

[@SpaceElvisInc]

Lawbreakers the Dark Souls of dumpster fires

[@Archontasil]

The term souls-like has diferent meaning to different people. Just like dark soul's lore. The term souls-like is souls-like Holy shit..

[@ParagonDS]

Please, no, god no, don't you start that crap here!

[@markopusic8258]

Wait what? So it means that the term souls-like is related to Dark Souls by the difficulty to understand it and use it correctly? So my math course is also souls-like?

[@waterdoggo4998]

Soulsception (oh god,this is how it feels to be indiemanius)

[@CoysRamirez]

@@ParagonDS starting that crap is souls-like

[@theexecutioner5244]

"Are Dark Souls an instrument?"

[@EmilyAliceTempest]

Holy shit, Paragon has a face D: I never knew...

[@ParagonDS]

No I don't

[@EmilyAliceTempest]

ParagonDS You sure? It certainly doesn't look like a functional helmet though, I'm pretty sure it is a face!

[@soulandre8702]

Twitch?

[@anchoredathell]

If u die once in a game on your first playthrough, its a souls like.

[@bestintheworld4783]

Ds2 is a soulslike

[@thanatossslay9819]

Omg so true hahaha

[@adolfstalinfranco]

Shots Fired

[@livchamps9573]

Watching you grow more confident on youtube as a platform has been really nice proud of you meng

[@4evermilkman]

Salt and Sanctuary is one of the few games id argue IS souls like, it was an awesome 2d reimagining of dark souls

[@TheAntiSanta]

No, Dead Cells got labeled as a Souls-Like because the Developers called it that, right before the build where people started Talking about the Game.

[@charliemurphypendleton1071]

The Fantastic Paul I guess Souls-like is more sellable / marketable than Metroidvania-like?

[@vincentloojijian3000]

Souls-Like -Corpse-running -Action warm-ups & Animation priority -Checkpoints that respawns enemies and have alternative functions (level up, item management etc.) -Currency as experiences, that also drops when you dies. -Interconnected world and level designs (shortcuts) -One stat per level -Resource management (stamina) What game is a Souls-Like? -Nioh -The Surge -Lords of the Fallen -Salt and Sanctuary -Code Vein (Not released yet but at least claims to be.) There you have it. Also, Souls-Like should be a RPG and no other genre else.

[@Overonator]

The problem with definitions is there is no objectively right or wrong meaning for a word. All that matters is how the word is used. What is it used to mean. So "souls like" means whatever trait dark souls has that another game has as well. That's why when someone uses it, the very next question should be "in what way is it souls like?"

[@Ipavaiva]

That outro was great, hopefully it's gonna become a standard for every video in the future

[@francesthemutes]

It's weird that you would call Salt & Sanctuary a 2D action game before a Souls-like but that game is literally Dark Souls in 2D. It copies almost every single mechanic and element of Dark Souls. And by copy I mean straight-up, unabashedly copy. It is Dark Souls in all but name. A great game that people should play, though!

[@mirandag7668]

I think "souls like" should refer to games similar to DS like you said; NioH, Surge, Code:Vein, etc. But when it's a game with similar concepts of a different genre, we could just say "Souls inspired." That way we could say something is a "souls inspired action platformer" and people would know that it's got souls-y themes without just thinking there's a lot of rolling and sunnyd chugging.

[@allanon64king10]

Well said

[@Tosmasta00]

Nioh is way closer to Ninja Gaiden and Code Ven is much closer to God Eater.

[@mirandag7668]

Well Code: Vein isn't even out yet, so we can't exactly say for sure. I'd say NioH is close to both Souls and Gaiden, but clearly has close relation to the Souls games in terms of combat. Ninja Gaiden has more to do with combos, dodging, and ninpo, whereas NioH is about managing your stamina and attacking between the different stances. It's more in depth than Souls combat-wise. It's probably similar to Gaiden because it's made by the same team, but NioH is certainly a "Soulslike" to me.

[@BruceWillis57]

I want a souls like game made bu From Software, in the greek mythology setting. I think that would be fuckin unreal. So much potential!

[@zexcede01]

Instead of magic, have Greek God based powers.

[@KnullDaJoker6432]

games from software are called soulsborne, games thats made from another company, influenced by dark souls is souls like

[@mitchobrien8431]

Although I like the term soulslike, i do wish it had a better genre name. Because it definitely spawned a new genre, and souls/borne/sekiro are definitely in a genre of their own truly. However, even though they are their own genre, the design and layout of levels are influenced by many other genres. To me, the from software games are essentially 3D metroidvanias with an emphasis on deliberate combat. It has the interconnected level layout of something like metroid or castlevania, with the stats and upgrades similar to that of castlevania and other RPGS, with the adventure nature of something like Ico or Zelda. So its hard to say what a good genre fit for the souls games are, but in my opinion, theyre most similar to metroidvanias in the 3D space. Dark Souls and Bloodborne are what the 3D castlevania games should have been. So maybe its time to develope and offshoot genre of the metroidvania and include the souls games within the 3D metroidvania genre. Lol, but then again, the term metroidvania for a genre has its issues too. Ugggh lol

[@ryan.1990]

Fromlike?

[@MrSilvertree2737]

1:13 first suggestion under this video is titled "What The F*** Is A Soulslike?" Published 9 months ago

[@yungmahon715]

I feel like the difficulty itself, isn't what makes a game souls-like, but what that difficulty makes you feel.

[@JonWaterfall]

The same thing happened to the term "Rouge-like"

[@Tomie..]

“Souls Like” I swear I don’t get triggered over anything, but when people use this term and have no idea what the hell Dark Souls is about.... that just throws me off edge. I agree with you Paragon, it’s super loosely used. I hate it, let’s banish this monstrosity we call “Souls Like”

[@AwokenGenius]

Carlos Soto Your comment is Souls-like.

[@dijik123]

Wht I thought of souls-like is that u can't get hit if u get hit u will get hit again and again and u will lose so the best way is to take no hits counter or dodge those attacks so that u can defeat the enemy

[@idknemore525]

Thank you. Getting sick of souls-like getting slapped onto anything that requires some effort to win. The only game likened to dark souls that I've gotten the same sense of satisfaction from is hyper light drifter. Granted I have yet to try nioh or the surge.

[@charliemurphypendleton1071]

William McNally Some would argue hyper light drifter is more Zelda-like than Souls-like As well as Nioh is more Tenchu-like, or Ninja Gaiden-like, or even Onimusha-like. And the Surge is definitely and blatantly Souls-like with a twist of Dead Space lol

[@idknemore525]

That may be, and I agree that hld is more similar to zelda in many ways, but I have heard youtubers liken it to dark souls, hence it has been likened to dark souls (much like nioh as well) and inspite of it being more similar to zelda on the surface, the way you have to approach conflicts, the way the story is told, and the tone of the world is more similar to dark souls in my opinion.

[@charliemurphypendleton1071]

William McNally yea I can see, in other words its....Dark Legend of Zelda Souls-like :)

[@weshouser821]

Zelda is really pretty "souls-like" especially Zelda: A Link to the Past" for the Super Nintendo. If that's the first game you played then it can be tough and ruthless. It doesn't tell you what to do or how to play you have to figure it out, The game assumes you played the first Zelda for Nintendo. It's a huge adventure in a (for the time) open world, you have to fight a major unique boss in each dungeon and each boss fight is pretty hard actually a lot of them are damn near unwinnable if you don't have the proper gear. You only get so much gear and there are no save points in the dungeons. There are also traps everywhere meant to fool you at first go. I guess we should say that Dark-Souls and all of these games are actually "Zelda-Like". If you play it now, and never played a Zelda game then I think it would take a bit to get used to it and beat the game for many new players actually even today. In Zelda you don't "Level up-" in an RPG style but you do "Level Up" with gear and Hearts which you get from completing dungeons so technically you sort of level up. You are also able to go into hard areas early in the game and go back through and fight in weaker areas of them game when you are tougher. The enemies also respawn every time you leave and then come back to an area and that can get real frustrating at times... Thinking about it Dark-Souls is very "Zelda-Like" It even has a dark, time and space warping medieval style you start off in a kingdom and the future is an apocalyptic wasteland controlled by Ganon who is essentially a huge pig like demi-god who kicks major ass

[@Tnsk.]

"so if you dont like it, fuck off" thats ma boi, im proud.

[@spacep0ny958]

Reminds me of when people called Farcry3 "Skyrim with guns"

[@marsgreekgod]

I feel like a stamina bar is a big part of what a "Dark souls like" is. which is why salt counts for me,

[@sergeysmyshlyaev9716]

Plot twist - Blade of Darkness was a souls-like game even before Demon's Souls came out.

[@xmzAO]

6 years later im still not sure sometimes what aspect of souls games people are referring too when they say "souls like"

[@Goblinew]

You could say Minecraft is Souls-like

[@DarthKato]

You could, but you would sound like a fucking idiot. lol

[@mathiastye]

It’s great that you’re getting more comfortable with being on camera and less self conscious. It’s making your content really good

[@GayFroge]

All this time these videos were being narrated by jack black and I had no idea o.o

[@h4wk10]

I like this new "format". The music is superb.

[@kikomatsing9487]

You died frequently, soul like. You frustrated in game, soul like. Rage quit in middle in boss fight, soul like.

[@jabbablade1884]

Every game that says "YOU DIED" when you die, is definitely a "souls-like".

[@Nickisorochi]

You nailed it bro...This has to be stopped seriously

[@lawofaverages5373]

Yeah this is spot on. I thought I knew what ‘souls like’ meant until people started using it with every type of game, then I doubted my own interpretation of the actual term.

[@vsear5911]

Cuphead - the Dark Souls of run 'n' gun Crash Bandicoot - the Dark Souls of platformers Dark Souls - the Citizen Kane of gaming journalism.

[@marimbogs5418]

Never mind titles, what intrigues me is how much I am reminded of Dylan Moran whenever I look at Paragon`s face........ its frightening

[@kurokuma3366]

you should do a no death run on all of them, if you die in any game you have to restart on demon souls and work your way back up

[@CelestialHunter-]

4:21 i thought it is mouse icon

[@THE_UNENDING]

I literally just finished Jedi fallen order and it felt incredible to finally get that achievement, it's the first time I actually buckled down learnt and persevered, I just want to play another difficult but rewarding gameplay

[@wallacesousuke1433]

Play Nioh 2 and Monster Hunter :)

[@nuniezjorge]

some people consider chess a sport, some people consider cuphead a soulslike game, and there is people that consider dark souls a genre, i guess we would be hearing terms like goldeneyer, grandturismic and mortalkombating if fps, racing and fighting genres were invented after 2010

[@MasterDirox]

Burgertime for NES, definitely a Souls-like

[@Nhileishere]

I was waiting for some explanation of what a souls-like game. I hope I'll get time to see your playthrough (s) on twitch! Love ya

[@Nhileishere]

I definitely love the camera vids it makes it more personal.

[@redseagaming7832]

I say Dark Souls is a game series that does not reward the impatient. it requires you to put some time and practice into the game. if you're patient and you grind hard enough and long enough you'll level up to a level 120 or more and realize the game is not as hard as the advertisements were saying. instead the game morphs from a very impossible game to a hard game that's tolerable that rewards exploration and if you're having trouble in one area you can always go to another area that's why I love Dark Souls so much.

[@strictlybananas]

Great video Para, love the camera too. More of that gorgeous face will never be a bad thing.

[@ShinkeiDEI]

KZbin is the Dark Souls of content creation

[@pajokamikaze]

My morning wood is souls-like...

[@Maniac-007]

So, souls-like is like a hack-and-slash but harder?

[@alex9x9]

"If you don't like it just fuck off" oh I love you, man! No homo.

[@shortbreadhead]

This is truly the souls like of explanations

[@SpiridonPrime]

Ok so I think I got it….maybe… And you just said The Surge, which I just blind bought and now am gonna woosah, then plan my gaming for tomorrow. Thanks, seriously, you cleared it up for me. 🎉

Para didn't curse much before, with the huge drop in revenue the cussing actually feels like a protest. Legend.

[@DarthKato]

I agree that its a pain in the ass that so many games are getting labeled "Souls-Like". In my opinion, to be a souls like, you need to fill the following criteria: 1- You need a bonfire-like checkpoint. 2- A souls-system, with souls-like currency that you use to level/buy with and is lost upon death(And needs to be gotten back, by fighting to the spot you died). Those few things are absolute needed to be a Souls-Like(Yeah, difficulty is not a feature. Games have been hard since the begging of gaming). So, with that said, the only games that I can say are absolute Souls-Like are: 1-) Nioh 2-) Salt and Sanctuary 3-) Lords of the Fallen 4-). The SurgeThere may be more, but those I can say for sure are Souls-Like.

[@juanmaledesma542]

Holy shit, Paragon is an actual human being, WITH A FACE D:

[@WolfxXxFox]

Didn't knew Jack Black did dark souls videos

[@camdencamde]

life is difficult sometimes. must be a souls-like

[@heisenburger2212]

When Bualders Gate can be considered souls like....?

[@segaahearn]

Whenever I hear the term Souls-like, I think of the game Rogue and the term Roguelike (which also has been grossly misused in the past few years). At best the games are roguelite, at worst they have some random/procedural generation and otherwise don't fit any other criteria in the genre. Don't get me wrong, roguelites are a great introduction to the genre and can be pretty fun. Originally, the term roguelike meant games similar to Rogue: turned-based, procedural dungeon, randomized drops, permadeath, top down perspective in a tile based world. The problem with the souls-like genre is that it, as of yet, isn't clearly defined about the core mechanics that differentiate it from other 3rd person rpgs. I feel like a lot of games that use the term souls-like are probably souls-lite at best, just incorporating a few key features from Dark Souls into the game. Only time will tell if this is truly a new genre or just some marketing wankateering.

[@timmontez7321]

Good to see your video pop up peace "Be good to one another"

[@notproductiveproductions3504]

I saw a guy point out gameplay similarities between all games of the genre and the comments went full NPC collectively saying “it’s about the exploration discovery, interaction with blah blah”

[@De1tAStreaM]

Every game is souls like

[@rayne7837]

i frickin love this guy

[@ethanbuchanan7368]

I think you said theme when you meant mechanic. Health bars, hitboxes, limited healing, check points, those are mechanics. A theme is more a literary term so that would be things like going through a castle, being a solitary warrior, or bearing a curse. If something has the same mechanics as dark souls it's able to be compared to dark souls, if it has the same themes as dark souls, that means it's a dark fantasy like a whole ton of stuff besides dark souls.

[@lonedrifter9994]

What is the game at 0:37 ? it looks interesting.

[@PANNARALEJ]

Giovann Hernandez "Shrouded In Sanity"

[@thiccchungus588]

I love the new video format with the occasional camera stuff. I never tire of looking at that handsome mug. I love you. Daddy.

[@maxwaring2000]

I wish real life was souls like

[@Trancepticon]

Max I think real life has enough grieving, trolling, false truths and broken mechanics, thank you very much.

[@symadreable]

Max it is

[@allanon64king10]

Trancepticon true but if i could respawn and increase in power hell yeah i could live that

[@Floppy-Sockies]

Can you die in a game? Boom Souls-Like

[@ethanjohnson5594]

Great video Paragon!

[@teodorteisberg8344]

Holy shit this is the first video I found from this guy and I am so in on this souls marathon stream yee

[@lootratmark6016]

To save you guys 5 minutes a Souls-like is any game that is even slightly more difficult than Barbie's Playhouse adventure

[@KaoZorri]

The game Hollow Knight is not a souls like game, but the story telling methods are very similar to it. I wish there was a way to describe it purely for the story alone. The game itself is a Metroidvania and that is pretty much it.

[@s.e.n3264]

The people who mislabel a game as "Souls like" need to fucking git gud

[@allanon64king10]

Yup

[@Catslug]

Everything is a -jojo- souls reference

[@Mo_sty]

You reminded me of Dave in any of his Supershows

[@niemand7811]

My problem is that people calling souls-like a genre don't know what genre Demon Souls belongs to or what genre Dark Souls belongs to. Both games are action RPGs, core and center, with an emphasis on classic RPG elements known from D&D and other early table top rpgs, where your focus is more tactical then in our usual action hack'n slash titles.

[@MalakiaLaGattaNera]

If you have to git gud, then it's a souls-like... apparently.

[@fishsoup31]

liked the start with facecam

[@JGrindTheDrummer]

The ending sold me. Take my click.

[@andresarancio6696]

You know, I wouldn't mind if Souls-like became a genre, because the general feel of some of the games often compared to Dark Souls and Bloodborne is a feel I generally like... up until people made it a description of any sort of game that tries to design some sort of challenge (that is, every game that is not a walking simulator or visual novel... and I expect somebody will try making the dark souls of those soon enough). People don't realize that you can't copy and paste Dark Souls mechanics or design philosophies and bam, you got the next Dark Souls. It is the same damn thing of the whole Mother-like craze after Undertale, except as Dark Souls is colossus of a comercial success, companies will use it even more shamelessly.

[@0RecklessAbandon0]

This is the first time I've seen his face and his neck is so beeeefffy.

[@MrHakubi]

Souls-like = challenging Mainstream gaming has lacked this for some time time.

[@DuncanJMcMillan]

The IRL camera was cool, however (and this might just be my monitor) it seemed like the blacks got crushed in color grading.

[@myssledissle]

If a game has: stamina, non regening health unless under certain effects, weapons, "spells", rolling/other dodging, and feels like a souls game(movement, bosses, ect) than its souls like. Oh I died in fallout 1. SOULS LIKE

[@glukolover]

The thing I notice is that even other games in the Dark Souls series aren't really all that Dark Souls-like. They all use and accentuate different mechanics, and play and feel quite differently even if they use the same themes. So I find it fucking absurd that games in entirely different genres compare themselves to Dark Souls. Even if you do draw inspiration for the souls series, doesn't mean your take on it is even going to be good. (Thou Hallow Knight is pretty epic)

[@mrheisenberg83]

I thought Dead Cells was a relative "Soulslike" because of the death mechanic that is exactly like in Souls, combined with the regain system from Bloodborne and the relatively high difficulty. That makes this a mildly good argument, imo. I mean, should we just call it Souls-Lite and have this be done with, like with Rogue? I would be all for that. :-)

[@yellow4633]

The term "Souls-like" seems to be everywhere from our point of view, but people not in the fandom won't have those types of things recommended to them since they don't have a search history involving dark souls at all, so the title/tag won't come to them at all. I don't feel like the "Souls-like" title is nearly as widespread as we think it is, it's just all that WE see.

[@yesiamanerd2040]

A fine presentation

[@mr.perfect748]

Simple answer -Metroidvania

[@fred9136]

On Cuphead as a "Souls-Like" Despite missing a lot of the mechanics that would make someone consider it a "Souls-Like" I would argue that it does totally count as a Souls-Like. Darksouls and Cuphead play in the same way. They are a dance and you must learn the steps. Too many wrong steps and you'll have to try again. Both of them are difficult, sure, but they are fair within that difficulty. (Let's pretend Darksouls 2 doesn't exist for a moment shall we?) In both games when you die it is your own fault. It's not because the game did something that's unfair with no warning or indication. Every enemy attack in both games gives you all the information before the attack connects to tell you what to do and how to deal with it, if you don't avoid it then that's your own personal lack of skill. Speaking of which, both games are about building a skill set. Neither game expects you to be able to 1-shot everything your first time, that's why there's no penalty for failure in Cuphead and only a penalty for repeated failure in the souls games. They both want you to die, learn, and try again with the information you just learnt.

[@Kurai_69420]

Yea but that's not why they call it a Souls-like. They call it the Dark Souls of whatever because some idiot got stuck on the fucking tutorial and continued with the most painful-to-watch playthrough I've seen(games journalism is pretty much the only job you can suck at and not get fired) and they're using the difficulty as an excuse to cover his ass.

[@Trancepticon]

If Metal Slug had a "You Died" screen would it be souls-like??

[@markopusic8258]

Fuckin clic bait... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) It's so difficult to avoid it in KZbin... Oh wait... CLIC BAIT IS ALSO SOULS-LIKE??

[@pvt.prinny759]

Challenging=souls clone, end of story

[@mr.insanity4248]

amazing youtuber!! keep up the great content

[@Akaarei]

That's the attitude!

[@rohitchaoji]

Will you be posting any of your Twitch steam videos to KZbin in the future?

[@bloodhunger2811]

Is my life a souls-like ? I need to know the truth or am I a (Undead-Like)?!

[@Sagaan42]

I agree with what you said, but salt and sanctuary is a souls-like. It is designed directly to be a souls game and almost (at very little exceptions such as the skill tree) all of it's mechanics are taken from souls game. I think the "it's not a soul like" trend is almost something like half as bad as the "it's a souls-like" one.